We ink-stained wretches have a habit of hyping the new new thing. We speculate breathlessly about the next model of iPhone, turn the NFL draft into a three-day spectacle, deploy packs of reporters to tail a Fox News commentator on a family bus tour of the mid-Atlantic. This tendency is particularly strong when it dovetails with our gift …

About half way through his farewell speech on the Senate floor Monday afternoon, Senator John Ensign’s words turned personal. Though it likely made his colleagues wince, the Nevada Republican’s address was a rare moment of raw honesty on the Hill. Ensign, once a rumored candidate for President, will leave the Senate on Tuesday shamed by …

Or, in Senator Ensign’s case, what happens in Washington and is sent back home to Nevada. Both Senators from the Silver State are increasingly deep political doo-doo, though for vastly different reasons. And one’s scandal may end up helping the other.